


world fairs are fun

by Kare



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:21:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kare/pseuds/Kare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>someone tries to explain to Steve about World Fairs... he comments... a lot</p>
            </blockquote>





	world fairs are fun

**Author's Note:**

> this is another of the "I still have some stuff left over from the last nano, and it might not be the best I ever wrote, just post it out there, damn it..." category
> 
> if anyones needs help with the formating: it is explained at the end...
> 
> and it is crack  
> I am not sure that's a good enough reason to post it anywhere, but I had fun
> 
> other than that: I regret nothing. Oh, and the actual educational context is - if I remember correctly - from Bill Brysons "At Home"...

No matter the wreckage that some of the presenters caused, the World Exhibition of Tomorrow was a resounding success.

 

One of the first wildly received World Fairs was undoubtedly in 1851 in London's Hyde Park.

 

Beside presenting the world with formally unknown wonders, those fairs were first and foremost trade fairs. People were able to glimpse the newest inventions from around the world and socialize, sharing ideas and resources.

 

However, the history of those fairs goes back even longer.

 

One of the first trade fairs was in Prague in 1791, before it quickly became a French institution, presenting to the world such important inventions as the crumble free croissant, the frog leg Popsicles or the tricolored costume. [ **I do know when you are pulling my leg, you know?** \- _psssst_.]

 

However, the London World Fair of 1851 is usually held to be the first real trade fair. Not only because it was wildly received and set a number of world records - like the first and therefore longest continuous usage of a public water toilet [ **Seriously?** \- _Yep, and you know it._ \- **Who rated that as a world record?** \- _Well… maybe more like something ‘noteworthy’_ \- **And people tell me I need to ‘get a life’** ], a 27 feet water fountain [ **This is noteworthy too?** \- _You do remember which year we are talking about?_ ] as well as a number of American exhibits proving the American knack for steam powered machines starting with pressing irons all the way to mechanical wood saws, the first vacuum cleaner, which was almost big enough to fill a single room, as well as the worlds first and last self driving wine cart. [ _Happy?_ \- **You are making this up, right?** \- _Nooo… No, I don’t think so._ \- **You don’t think so?** \- _Well…_ \- **Jarvis?** \- YES, SIR? - **Please, tell me she is making this up.** \- IF YOU WISH: SHE IS MAKING THIS UP. - _Hey! I heard Mr. Stark Senior had one of those wine cards!_ \- **Jarvis?** \- I THINK HE HAD. - _How was it?_ \- I CRASHED INTO WALLS A LOT. BUT MR. STARK SENIOR ALWAYS STRESSED IT NEVER BROKE A SINGLE BOTTLE. - _See? You just need to know where to compromise…_ \- **…** \- _Now, where were we? Ah, yeah…_ ]

 

It was also held to be the one first official world fair because it was held in a purpose-build building - at the time the biggest building made almost completely of glass and steal. It was heated as well and even included living trees, which were incorporated from the the grounds the building was placed on.

 

[ _At the time even the gas lights made the news. But mostly it was just people not being used to all that light. I mean have you ever tried to read by candlelight? It is not really convenient._ \- **Yeah, I remember.** ]

 

World Fairs in the 40s were mainly held in France, the United Kingdom as well as… Piedmont - Sardinia. In short: mainland Europe.

 

Of cause America didn’t want to play with the rest of the world… [ ***cough*** \- _Yes, yes, right…_ ] Of cause America used its unique combination of entrepreneurship and unnumbered skilled immigrants to hold its own world class World Fair in the June of 1943. [ **I know, I was there.** \- _Which means you are going to correct pretty much every second sentence I utter. Swell. Let’s do this. Not like I had anything better to do on a Sunday._ ]

 

The exhibition in Queens/ New York were not far from the Conney Island attractions and many visitors combined the two. [ **Actually it was either or, because…** \- _Steve!_ \- **Hey, I was the one who lived it!** \- _Yeah, and no offense big guy: You aren’t exactly known as a party animal. So why don’t you just let me carry on?_ \- **Bucky!** \-  Keep me out of this. \- **Tell her.** \-  Well, remember the twin date I set up for us? We certainly did. Among other things. \- _No graphics, k?_ \- **Look, normal people…** \-  Normal people had at least one friend or relative at the front and were happy to have a chance to unwind a bit. \- **Unwind? Since when do you talk 21st century?** \-  Well, you were the one who wanted the wordy dame to talk about technical advancement. \- _I’m just trying to link it to something he might relate to!_ \-  Which is why he will shut up and you continue to talk about what ever they write about in books these days… \- _More like the Internet._ \- **…** \-  … \- * _cough* well… Anyway._ ]

 

There were quite a number of improvements and inventions during this time, however because of the war efforts many of them were not to be released to the general public for another decade or two. [ **Like what?** \- _Like what what?_ \- **…** \- _You know: TV was supposedly around before the war. It didn’t take of until after. Partly because those things were damn expensive. And partly because no one was broadcasting anything worth seeing. Like… Olympics or something. Most things got smaller and cheaper. There are a number of vaccines that originated during the war. Camera technique got way better. Food preservation. Without long distance bombs we might never have made it to the moon._ \- **The moon?** \- _The Moon. You still haven’t looked that one up, have you?_ \-  We were on the moon? \- _Well… erm… sorta?_ \-  What kind of answer is: sorta? \- _…_ \-  I’m waiting. \- _I am standing in a room with two guys who were re-enacting the cold war without even realizing it. Yes, people were on the moon. But it wasn’t about the moon. Happy?_ \-  Has anyone ever told you you are horrible with yes-or-no-answers? \- _Maybe._ \- **My point exactly. So… how does one make it up there without… wait a moment, you mean that it was a hoax?** \- _You never heard we were on the moon but you heard it was a hoax?_ \- **If people tell you it is a hoax why would you bother to look it up?** \-  A hoax? \- _Can you two stop making this even more complicated than it is?_ \- **Then explain!** \- _Well… the first man made object to orbit the earth was send there by the former UDSSR. People weren’t sure if humans were even capable to survive in space. So they send animals first. Dogs, apes, frogs… Though animal rights wasn’t all that big back then. From what I gathered there was no plan to get those first animals back to earth, so they might have gone mad a long time before they starved._ \- **That’s…** \- _Human history. They did send humans up into space eventually. The first one was Yuri Gagarin. Another point for the Soviets._ \-  And people think it’s a hoax because they got onto the moon first, too? \- _No need to sound so disappointed. America did get there first. Two men on the moon. One orbiting it, to pick them up later._ \- ***raised eyebrow*** \- _I know what you mean, but the single astronaut found it pretty relaxing. And it was all broadcasted live, for the world to see. After all America couldn’t afford to be left out of this game. They didn’t join because they wanted a man on the moon. They joined because they couldn’t allow the UDSSR to win. They made it in the nick of time. And some people still find it so unbelievable they say it was a TV hoax recorded somewhere in the Nevada dessert or something._ \- **But how can you send people to the moon but still not have flying cars?** \- _Well… I’d like to say science happened. There was a hover craft technology that had vehicles move on an air cushion… it didn’t become widely used. Just too expansive. But…_ \- **But?** \- _Well, you are the genius! Accidents happened. Ever seen a car crash? They are horrible enough without toppling down dozened of feets, too._ \- **… I still think it was a brilliant idea. Just because you are not getting it…** \- _*sigh*_ \-  *sigh* \- _Look, I’ll get Coulson on this. We will get you two the footage from the moon landing and probably from Apollo 11. It is pretty impressive. And in the meantime we’ll watch some episodes of Mythbusters. You two seen those yet?_ \-  Do they bust the moon landing as well? \- _No, they just detonate a lot of stuff in the name of science._ \- **That’s…** \- _If you say wasteful I will never finish that fic with you and Bucky and the two Harleys in the Nevada dessert._ \- ***grumble*** \- _Hm?_ \-  Wait a moment, You mean we could be driving through the desert instead? How did we even end up here? \- _Look, it’s not as if we were having this conversation, if it wasn’t for the National Novel Writing Month, okay? So go and grab some popcorn. Enjoy your Mythbusters. Or Doctor Who. Or what ever else people have recommended to you. Just go and amuse yourselves for a bit, k? Wade is waiting for me to finish his fic. And we all know he isn’t exactly a patient man, right?_ ]

**Author's Note:**

> so:
> 
> normal - the actual text
> 
> cursive - your author, mouthing off
> 
> bold - Steve Rogers
> 
> ALL CAPS - Jarvis
> 
> underlined - Bucky
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, and by the way:  
> that fic at the end? About the dessert and motor bikes? That one got abandoned. Feel free to grab the plot bunny and run with it.


End file.
